#MadOnline: Maurice Smith wants to go to Georgia; Alabama won't give a senior a grad transfer.|UGA Hot Topics|Team BattleGround|College BattleGround

When last we checked in on the intrepid Maurice Smith, all signs pointed to him transferring to Miami. Now, according to his mother, Georgia is really the apple of his eye.

From ESPN, citing the AJC story (a rag I bluntly refuse to link as long as trollmaster Michael Carvell is an unofficial ‘Dawg recruiter,):

Mother of Maurice Smith says Nick Saban blocking son’s transfer from Alabama Crimson Tide to Georgia Bulldogs

The mother of Alabama reserve defensive back Maurice Smith told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that her son is being blocked from transferring to Georgia by coach Nick Saban.

Smith, a senior from Sugar Land, Texas, is still listed on Alabama’s roster online. With two career starts under his belt, he worked with the first-team defense during the spring.

In mid-June, AL.com reported that Smith was seeking to leave as a graduate transfer, which would make him eligible to play immediately at another school.

“He wants to go to Georgia. Period,” Samyra Smith told the AJC. “That’s where he wants to go.”

Look, this is going to be hyped up as a Kirby vs. Saban battle, which it is not. Forests of trees shall be slain, and a small ocean’s worth of ink shall be spilled to make this another “Oh, awful Nick Saban” story, which again it is not.

No where has it been reported that Saban will not let Smith out of his NLI, which contract governs the commitment of Smith. No where has it been said that Saban is flatly refusing to release Smith to go to the ‘Dawgs, the ‘Canes or to help start up the scrappy Shelton State Community College Buccaneers. What Saban has refused to do, based on reports from Miami and momma, is not allow Smith, who is a true Senior, have a waiver to play immediately under a grad transfer.

Whether or not to permit an undergrad to waive the one-year residency requirement is purely at the discretion of the school where a player commits. The schools are not obliged to do it; they are not required to do it; they are not even strongly encouraged with the promise of an ice cream and pizza party to do so.

The NCAA bylaw on waivers, section 14.5.5.3.9 (c), reads in pertinent part:

the student’s previous institution shall certify in writing that it has no objection to the student being granted an exception to the transfer residence requirement. If the student’s previous institution denies his or her request for the release

This isn’t a dictatorial measure, either. That provision plainly provides written notice and the opportunity for a hearing outside of the athletics department. There are due process procedures in place; none of which, it should be noted, have even been triggered yet, because, to the best of our reading, no written notice has been given to Smith. Instead, we have seen the Smith family and the ‘Canes and ‘Dawgs media apparatuses spring into high gear because the Alabama staff will not afford them an extraordinary, highly irregular waiver request.

Saban thinks that Smith is better served finishing his senior year at Alabama. That is his right to do so. And, Maurice Smith thinks he’s better off elsewhere; again, that’s his right. But, Smith has a choice under NCAA bylaws, he can stay his senior season at Alabama, or he can be released from his Alabama NLI and is going to be subject to the exact same transfer requirement as nearly every player in the NCAA/NAIA system since Methesulah’s day:

4.5.5.1 General Rule. A transfer student from a four-year institution shall not be eligible for intercollegiate competition at a member institution until the student has fulfilled a residence requirement of one full academic year (two full semesters or three full quarters) at the certifying institution.

So, when you read the #MadOnline think pieces the next few weeks, and you see the click bait headlines about Saban refusing to release Smith from his NLI, know that there are very clear guidelines that govern transfers. Smith doesn’t just want to leave — he wants to leave and be immediately eligible to play.

The Alabama staff is not obliged to make that transfer process a game of Chutes and Ladders; nor, should it be emphasized, is their requiring Smith to play by the same guidelines as everyone else, some cruel, petty, vindictive move: what the staff is doing is just the ordinary course of affairs for the abiding majority of student-athlete transfers. Winning the media war or eliciting sympathies do not change the guidelines which govern Smith’s eligibility, residency or transfer.

Whether or not that NCAA residency requirement should exist is, of course, a different matter, and one beyond the scope of this article.

“He wants to go to Georgia. Period. That’s where he wants to go.”

Good luck to you, Maurice…in 2017.

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(h/t Josh Chatham for pulling down the bylaws for this one.)